PITTSBORO–It is February and by the end of this month, the Northwood men’s basketball team hope to secure a trip 14 miles up the road to play at Carmichael Arena for the 3A State Championship.
Six years ago, Northwood playing for a state title seemed like it was a million miles away. They were just another team looking up at Orange and Southern Durham slugging it out for first place for the Big 8 Conference Championship.
Now, the Chargers have not only secured its second straight Central Carolina Conference regular season championship, they’ve completely lapped the field.
Northwood (19-2, 10-0 in the CCC) went into Friday night’s game against Orange with the CCC title already intact with three games remaining in the regular season. The #1 ranked team among RPI in the 3A East Region, the Chargers never trailed in a 77-46 blowout of Orange on Senior Night at Chargers Gymnasium.
Junior Drake Powell, who has committed to play at UNC, led the Chargers with 23 points. Frederico Whitaker added 16 points as the Chargers won its 30th consecutive conference game.
Orange played without point guard Kai Wade, who had started the previous 22 games. Freshman Coleman Cloer paced the Panthers with 20 points, his eleventh 20-point game of his rookie season. Sophomore Xandrell Pennix added 12 from four 3-pointers.
Pennix’s three-pointer from the wing in the first quarter cut Northwood’s early lead to 8-6, but the Chargers reeled off eleven straight points to keep the lead in double-figures for the rest of the game. Northwood’s Jack Nicholson, one of three seniors honored on senior night, sank a 3-pointer to push the Chargers ahead 19-6, leading to an Orange timeout.
Without Wade, Orange struggled to generate offense. Their 46 points was the second-lowest total this year and fewest since they were held to 43 against Chapel Hill on November 22, the second game of the year.
This was Orange’s last regular season trip to Northwood as a conference opponent. Next season, the Chargers will drop down to 2A and join the Mid-Carolina Conference, which will have nine teams including the new Southeast Alamance.
Northwood is now guaranteed a bye into the Central Carolina Conference Tournament semifinals, which starts February 13.
The closest any CCC team has come to beating the Chargers this year came on January 13. Northwood defeated Eastern Alamance 47-31 in Pittsboro.
Orange’s next game will be against Eastern Alamance on Senior Night Friday night in Hillsborough. Seniors Darius Corbett, Isaiah Seymour, Thomas Loch and Cale Barreto will be honored. If Orange wins, they will secure third place in the CCC.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: NORTHWOOD 58, ORANGE 42
The Northwood women’s basketball team secured its fourth straight CCC regular season championship as they pulled away from Orange in Pittsboro.
Te’Keyah Bland, on her Senior Night, led the Chargers with 20 points as Northwood (18-4, 10-0) won its 38th conference conference game. The Chargers, the defending 3A State Champions, never trailed against Orange.
After the Chargers ran out to a 12 point lead, the Panthers fought back despite the absence of leading scorer Erin Jordan-Cornell, who missed the entire second quarter after she picked up her second foul. The Lady Panthers fought back to make it a five-point game after a lay-in by sophomore Evelyn George.
Bland helped the Chargers pull away with five straight points down the stretch, plus a three-pointer from Skylar Adams, who finished with 17 points.
Jordan-Cornell had eleven points for Orange to lead the Lady Panthers. Freshman Addie Atkins added eight points, including two 3-pointers in the second half.
The Chargers have beaten the Panthers nine straight times.
Northwood will receive a bye into the semifinals of the Central Carolina Conference Tournament, making another matchup against the Lady Panthers possible.
Orange (12-11, 5-6) will have its senior night game on Friday against Eastern Alamance. Seniors Erin Jordan-Cornell, Jada Reed, Nikayla Whitted and Katelyn Van Mater will be honored.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: NORTHWOOD 77, ORANGE 46
ORA–9 15 10 12-46
NOR–23 11 17 26-77
ORANGE: Xandrell Pennix 12, Coleman Cloer 20, Ryan Honeycutt 2, Malachi Poole 3, Ryan Moss 2, Freddy Sneed 4, Darius Corbett 3.
NORTHWOOD: Frederico Whitaker 16, Jack Nicholson 5, Kenan Parrish 11, Drake Powell 23, Max Frazier 8, Cam Fowler 5, Griffin Hobbs 6, Jake Leighton 3.
3-point goals: Orange 7 (Pennix 4, Cloer, Poole, Corbett) Northwood 4 (Whitaker 2, Nicholson, Powell).
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: NORTHWOOD 58, ORANGE 42
ORA–11 12 10 9-42
NOR–20 17 10 11-58
ORANGE: Jada Reed 6, Erin Jordan-Cornell 11, Addie Atkins 9, Evelyn George 7, Nikayla Whitted 3, Jada Reed 6, Katelyn Van Mater 4, Maura McMurtry 3.
NORTHWOOD: Natalia Whitaker 8, Te’Keyah Bland 20, Skylar Adams 17, Mikaylah Gover 2, Shaylah Glover 3, Alyla Roberts 4, Sarah Barbour 4.
3-point goals: Orange 4 (Atkins 2, Whitted, McMurtry); Northwood 3 (Bland, Adams, Roberts)
Fouled Out: Jordan-Cornell.